‘Jerusalem, for all its holy associations, is at the centre of what often seems an insoluble conflict between two peoples’
Chief reporter Martin Shipton spent a week in Israel on a fact-finding mission, looking at the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Here, in his first of two articles, he reports on how the Israelis police Jerusalem, which is under the constant t
THE Old City of Jerusalem is one of the most exotic destinations for tourists, as well as for adherents of three of the world’s great religions: Christianity, Islam and Judaism.
But it is also the most heavily policed square mile in the world: not because of the petty crime often associated with major tourist sites, but because of the fear of terror attacks.
Jerusalem, for all its holy associations, is at the centre of what often seems an insoluble conflict between two peoples who both believe they have valid claims on the same land.
The failure to reach a just and agreed resolution between Jews and Palestinians for 70 years has led to frustration, bitterness and extreme anger.
Between 1920 and 1948 the territory then known as Palestine was run by Britain in line with a mandate bestowed by the United Nations.
The understandable influx of many European Jews after the horrors of the Holocaust increased tensions between the two communities, and things fell apart when the leaders of the Palestinians rejected a partition plan aimed at creating two states.
To this day there are different interpretations about how the conflict ended. The Israelis insist that the Palestinians ran away, while the Palestinians point to massacres that took place in which their people were slaughtered and villages destroyed.
The war was won by the Israelis, who declared their own independent state, while hundreds of thousands of Palestinians went to refugee camps, where many of their descendants still live.
Until the Six Day War in 1967, the Palestinian territory known as the West Bank was administered by Jordan, while the separate area of the Gaza Strip was run by Egypt. Both areas were occupied by the Israelis following their victory in 1967. An area of Syria known as the Golan Heights was also occupied by Israel, as was East Jerusalem, previously held by Jordan.
The Palestinian Authority was created in 1994, but it has only limited self-government in parts of the West Bank, with security remaining the responsibility of Israel.
Since winning elections in 2006 Gaza has been run by Hamas, an Islamic fundamentalist organisation that does not recognise the legitimacy of Israel, and which remains in conflict with it. Rocket attacks on Israel are often met with retaliatory bombing of Gaza.
East Jerusalem contains the Old City with its historic and religious sites. The Israelis say they have annexed this area to create an indivisible city and capital for themselves, but their claim is not recognised by the international community.
To inflame the situation further, Jewish settlements have been built on Palestinian land. Such settlements are not recognised under international law, but in 2014 more than 750,000 Jews lived in them.
On a mid-November Sunday morning, together with five other British journalists and our host from the Israeli Embassy in London, I was briefed by Superintendent Micky Rosenfeld in the Old City of Jerusalem.
His description of the policing work that has to take place on a daily and permanent basis gave powerful testimony to a society that has to be forever on guard.
Supt Rosenfeld said: “As soon as we know whether there’s going to be a potential terrorist attack, the wide range of units that exist, including counter-terror units, undercover units, border control units, officers who are camouflaged, detectives etc all make their way inside those specific areas. It could be, for example, in Nablus, it could be in Bethlehem, or it could be an Israeli Arab village where we know there is a potential threat, and we go and make an arrest immediately.
“Those types of operation are taking place all the time. It’s quiet today, due to the fact that overnight we arrested 12 potential suspects.
“There are ongoing operations all the time in order to make things safe, calm and quiet.”
Describing the kind of terrorist attack that could take place across Israel, Supt Rosenfeld lists “regular” terrorist attacks, vehicle attacks and the possibility of chemical or biological warfare.
In the Old City of Jerusalem, police officers have to protect sites that are sacred to Christians, Jews and Muslims.
“You can imagine if there were to be a terrorist attack here in Jerusalem at one of the holy sites”, he said, “it would have implications and repercussions not just in Jerusalem, but within the different Israeli Arab communities, Palestinian communities, and of course in the Middle East as well.”
In July 2017 there was a terrorist attack which took place on the Temple Mount. Three terrorists opened fire, there was a full-scale gun battle and two Israeli police officers were shot dead. For two months afterwards there were riots and disturbances in the Israeli Arab community.
Supt Rosenfeld said: “There are police SWAT teams in the area at the moment. Our units are located inside one of the nearby buildings in
order to give a rapid response to any type of incident that could happen right now.
“On a regular Monday and Thursday we have about 10,000 to 15,000 people who come here to pray at the Western Wall. On a Friday we can have 30,000 Muslims who pray on the Temple Mount, and on a Sunday we can have 20,000 to 30,000 people who will pray at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
“If we see someone walking towards us with a knife from 50 metres away, the response of the Israeli National Police will be very different to if we see a man approaching us from behind and there are women and children in the area who are in a life-threatening situation.”
The man with a knife at 50 metres would receive warnings, only getting shot initially in the leg if he creates a life-threatening situation
“We’ve had terrorist incidents that have taken place in the Muslim quarter [of the Old City], where police officers have been stabbed, and they’ve had no option but to shoot and kill. It’s either their lives or the potential terrorists’.
“There are very clear, strict regulations [before officers can shoot to kill]. Any officer who doesn’t abide by the regulations will not be in the Israeli National Police Force.”
Supt Rosenfeld went on to defend the controversial security fence or wall that has been erected in the West Bank to stop terror attacks. He said: “We are not in the days of 2001 and 2002 in the second intifada [Palestinian uprising] where we were having suicide bombers and terrorists who were coming in from the different Palestinian areas. Why is that? Because we have the security fence that runs through Judea and Samaria [the Israeli name for the West Bank]. Palestinians who want to come inside Israel can come through a security checkpoint for work purposes – and they come in for medical treatment. The fence has prevented hundreds of terrorist attacks.
“There were suicide bombers who were coming in. How does the Palestinian society feel when you have mothers sending kids to blow themselves up? Today that does not exist, and thank God we’re not there – both in terms of the Israelis and the Palestinians. There are no buses exploding in the middle of Jerusalem or Tel Aviv.
“We don’t have a problem in terms of security. In 2001 that security fence didn’t exist.”
Nevertheless, in 2015 there was an increase in knife and shooting attacks, and a blending of knife, shooting and vehicle attacks. More than 300 such attacks have taken place. More than 44 Israelis have been killed in the attacks, and two foreigners.
“What is the difference between those types of attacks, and the attacks we are preventing? The difference is that the attacks which are being planned in those terrorist cells in those Palestinian areas … we go in and find those potential terrorists.
“The attacks that have happened where Israelis have been killed are sporadic terrorist attacks by fanatics, fundamentalists and individuals who have got up in the morning and said, ‘now I’m going to carry out a terrorist attack’, have left those specific areas and carried out an attack.”
As well as straightforward, oldfashioned tip-offs from informers, monitoring social media can be extremely important in preventing terrorist attacks.
Supt Rosenfeld said: “A sporadic attack is someone who will write on social media that they’re leaving their house, that they’re going to pray on the Temple Mount, and he says goodbye to all his family and friends.
“That will be someone we’ll want to get hold of as quick as possible, and make sure that our units in the Temple Mount area know the type of individual we’re looking for.”
In Jerusalem there are more than 3,500 police officers patrolling the streets, around 600 of whom are in the Old City. Around half are undercover – often dressed as tourists, smoking cigarettes, drinking coffee. All are armed.
“This is 1.1 square miles of very intensive police activity,” said the superintendent. “I think it’s the most sensitive place in the world where a police officer can serve. An officer can’t afford to make a mistake at the Western Wall, or open fire accidentally or not according to the rules, or blow his cover when he shouldn’t blow his cover.” Tomorrow: Could there be a solution to the conflict?